Whether it’s a profitable technique for Kelly Ayotte to assault Massachusetts in her New Hampshire gubernatorial marketing campaign stays to be seen, however one factor is obvious: she’s already placing Gov. Maura Healey on the defensive.
The superficial, knee-jerk evaluation is that the previous U.S. senator is positioning her Granite State in opposition to Massachusetts, however in actual fact she’s utilizing the Bay State as a poster youngster for failed, ultra-liberal insurance policies.
If you requested most individuals in New Hampshire if they might quite dwell in Massachusetts, they’d come again with a convincing no.
The solely folks defending Massachusetts are the politicians and their apologists within the press corps.
As Healey desperately tries to place herself nationally by placing up billboards and attacking Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida, she nonetheless should defend the path Massachusetts is heading, and that’s more and more troublesome.
While it’s true some New Hampshire residents commute to jobs in Massachusetts, they select to name the Granite State dwelling. But Massachusetts can also be changing into more and more blue politically, and Ayotte – who says New Hampshire is “one election away from becoming Massachusetts” is making an attempt to take advantage of that reality.
“Unlike Massachusetts, New Hampshire is a beacon of economic and personal freedom,” Ayotte tells the Herald. “We have the best business environment in the country with no sales, income or estate taxes. Our state is the best place to raise a family and to start and grow a business.”
Ayotte is tapping into the notion that Massachusetts and Boston are in decline as a spot to dwell – and the statistics again her up. There is one irrefutable reality: there may be an exodus from Massachusetts to different states.
Healey even acknowledged the sample of emigration in her inaugural speech.
In 2020, Massachusetts had a internet lack of greater than 20,000 residents, in response to IRS knowledge tracked by the Pioneer Institute. And the place is all people going? New Hampshire. Florida. Maine. Vermont.
And there are many weaknesses in Massachusetts for Ayotte to take advantage of.
Employers are abandoning Boston as a result of excessive rents, gridlock, and unreliable public transportation. Boston is scuffling with empty workplace skyscrapers dotting the panorama. Even Fenway Park is not crammed with followers most nights.
The scarcity of reasonably priced housing and lack of providers for the homeless is so unhealthy that state officers are asking folks to take migrants right here illegally into their houses.
Massachusetts’ outdated public transportation system is a catastrophe. Highways so clogged with site visitors it take over two hours to drive from the New Hampshire border to Boston.
And whenever you get to Boston, what do some folks see? A dysfunctional and unreliable MBTA. Homelessness within the streets. Open drug dealing at Mass and Cass proving a hazard to first responders.
There is a brand new millionaires tax – one more reason for wealthier folks to flee the state.
Legalized marijuana has triggered a flood of pot outlets to open in communities throughout the state.
Taxes and the price of authorities – buoyed by obscenely excessive salaries for UMass and different businesses – is getting larger.
And on the similar time, Massachusetts is the least clear state within the nation. The public information regulation is routinely flouted by public businesses and authorities officers.
So what’s there to love? The Cape? Good luck getting there.
There’s a good likelihood Ayotte’s gamble on trashing Massachusetts may work.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”